Wednesday, 30 September 2009

I found a blog on this Doritos packaging concept and thought it was really original and very well designed. The project was based on one of the YCN briefs where they asked designers to create a totally new packaging concept for Doritos. The shape and the texture of the Doritos crisps are used as the base for the packaging concept, the packaging structure keeps the packet closed after opening.

Thypographica is the first exhibition of the famous graphic design journal, which was first published in 1947 and is now considered legendary, the journal was founded by Herbet Spencer one of the UK's most influential designers and typographers the journal brought together concrete poetry, avant-garde type and photo-documentary. On display at the exhibition are large spreads detailing the journal’s content as well as a series of full magazines on display. Some great vintage typographical designs also feature throughout the exhibition. Its definitely worth a visit.

Tuesday, 29 September 2009

Dunlop have just released an ad campaign to promote a new industrial range of steel capped footwear. based on the B-Movies posters of the 1950s, this campaign proves that vintage advert designs are coming back in to fashion.

Opening with an image of a sunset followed by a seagull flying across the screen with a banner saying ‘get your island on’ then a roll-over image taking you into the sea with moving waves with binoculars, a disco ball, a coconut and bottle of Malibu floating in them, acting as the websites buttons its hard not to continue to explore the site. Its bright cheerful and exiting, the background reggae music is uplifting and every so often the seagull makes humorous comments such as ‘get of your computer and come to the bar’ and ‘help I cant find my coconut’ and so on. I think Malibu have been highly successful creating this website which is unforgettable and also acts as a strong advertising tool every web page is different and fresh, although quite a small website Malibu have managed to get their point across whilst keeping it simple and uplifting.

In march I went to the D&AD 45 years of creativity form the D&AD Annuals exhibition in Manchester, it was one of the most memorable exhibitions I have been to, an exhibition of the most outstanding advertising and design from around the world which brought together award-winning work from the prestigious D&AD Global Awards 2006.

From jaw-dropping billboard designs to comedic television adverts, the exhibition featured some of the most creative work produced by designers and agencies today.

The exhibition, shown in this format outside of London for the first time, included hundreds of works selected from over 25,000 international entries, and judged by 300 leading industry experts.

An artist I have always followed and have found truly inspirational is Tracey Emin, she is a English born artist and has produced some hugely popular work making her very well known amongst the general public. Well known for her confessional art she engages the viewer with a candid exploration of universal emotions, her ability to integrate her work and personal life enables Emin to establish an incredible intimacy with the viewer. Two of my particular favorite pieces by Emin are ‘My Bed’ (2002) where Emin shows us her bed in all of its embarrassing glory, Empty booze bottles, fag butts, stained sheets, worn pants and so on, by presenting her bed as art and sharing her most intimate space she reveals that she is as insecure and imperfect as the rest of the world.

The other of my favorite works is ‘I have got it all’ (2000) here Tracey depicts a rare glimpse of the happy, confident and successful person she is becoming. Its said that this piece is ‘a shameless two fingers up at her critics’.

Working across nearly every media Tracey Emin and her work are truly unique and inspirational they are blunt and in no way sugar coated she creates work that reflects her personality and her work always seems to shock yet amaze me.

Monday, 28 September 2009

One of the most helpful books when looking for inspiration that I came across last year was ‘contemporary graphic design’ by Charlotte and Peter Fiell, It showcases the extraordinary work of 100 of the worlds most progressive graphic designers. it show a huge array of visually stunning and thought provoking designs, advertisements, CD covers, posters, package designs, websites and corporate identities and texts by each designer expressing his or her individual approach to graphic design and personal insight into their motivation that lies behind their work. It is a truly stunning book and never failed to help kick start my projects with its inspirational imagery and opinions.

For a design museum I was highly disappointed with their website, I would have thought that more effort would have gone into designing it, As far as I can see its bland and lifeless, understandably a museums website needs to be informative but it doesn’t reflect the ethos that London’s design museum promotes.

The striking installation marks the celebration of London’s moment as the creative capital of the world and provides a stunning focal pint in the Victoria and Albert Museum’s gardens. The installation by wallpaper* magazine takes inspiration from the first chair arch constructed in 1877 to celebrate Queen victories visit to high Wycombe.

Wallpaper commissioned leading designer Martino Gamper to re-visit the idea, and create the chair arch for London, using 160 Ercol stacking chairs the arches are self supported and overlapping in a sweeping, organic, playful and elegant design, and a perfect celebration of British design.

he advert which was first aired on the 14th September is built around a ‘then and now’ scenario depicting people in period dress waiting in modern day settings to be found by their living decedents, The ad is sombre and thought provoking, its does well in capturing the imagination of the viewers and is designed to combine the old and the new to make you think about establishing a link with the past. The only fault that I can find with it, is the music is quite overpowering and at times drowns at the words of the speakers, but overall the haunting images from the past are very effective.

Wednesday, 16 September 2009

I was looking ar CR’s blog and came across a post about art duo Anna Lomax and Lauren Davies who went on a tour around the top UK holiday hotspots this summer, they ended up turning their Vauxhall astra they were travelling in into a snapshot of the British tourist destinations they had visited by decorating it with the souvenirs they collected, the car ended up covered and looks great, what a novel way of exhibiting a collection of souvenirs and representing Britain’s holiday destinations.

At the World Wide Development Conference which was held in June Apple showcased 20,000 of the most popular iPhone apps on a massive hyper wall built out of cinema displays, one that pulses in sync with every App Store download, all icons are sorted by colour and importantly are not just for show, although there being a couple minuets delay the live mural has each iPhone app’s icon pulse light outwards in a ripple whenever someone downloaded one of the apps. While certain apps pulse more than the others due to popularity, the effect produced an animated digital landscape. A great way for apple to show the popularity of the iPhone and its apps I think they should use the idea in apple stores for everyone to see.

Monday, 14 September 2009

A book I have owned for about a year now yet haven’t had a chance to look through I decided it was about time. It’s a highly visual look at design and is well written and interesting although a heavy read its nice to flick through the different eras and look at how design has developed. The book explores the evolution of design from the late 19th century to the present day organized chronologically the book also explores the dynamic relationship between design and manufacturing as well as the roles of technology, social change and commercial forces on the course of design history. The book is predicted on the idea that graphic design and typography are the most common art forms Eskilson states in his preface ‘ I strive to show how deeply graphic design and typography are embedded in the fabric of society of every era’

I was doing some general googleing to find out about the latest interactive websites and I came across this interactive music video, although not the best song, and the fact that it’s a bit odd I had fun playing around with it you can click on the mans face and hands to get him to do various things the actions change through out the video, click on the link to take a look.

I watched public enemies last night, as an avid Jonny Depp fan I have been looking forward to it for ages, and it lived up to all of my expectations. The film is set during the great depression and focuses on the true story of FBI agent Melvin Purvis’s attempts to stop criminals John Dillenger, baby Face Nelson and Pretty Boy Floyd. The film is an adaptation of Bryan Burrough’s non fiction book Public Enemies: America’s greatest crime wave and the birth of the FBI. The opening scene is full of action Dillenger and Hamilton overpowering several guards to break free members of their gang from prison, the film carries on packed with excitement and a love twist and is complimented by a brilliant sound track, public enemies is definitely a film I recommend watching.

Sunday, 13 September 2009

I came across Lizzie Mary Cullens illustrations last week as one of her pieces was on the front of design week, In the article she talks about her passion for psychogeography, Her illustrations show an exquisite attention to detail that others might miss, she strives to make stuff of science fictions leaving her illustrations with a fairy tale like twist. Her work is usually in black and white and mostly completed in situ but she says every city needs a different approach. After reading about her in design week I took a look at her website www.lizziemarycullen.co.uk were you can find her online portfolio, the website on its own is a piece of art its simple yet exiting to explore with her illustrations featuring throughout.

Noma Bars illustrations have previously appeared in The Guardian, The economist and Esquire, he has recently published a book mainly consisting of full page illustrations, with a series of spreads at the back of the book featuring pages from Noma’s sketchbooks. I picked up the book last week and found that it was full of graphic wit showing brilliant illustrations tricking the eye and making you want to take a second galnce, the way Noma uses negative space is truly brilliant, made up of a series of simple elements and negative space his illustrations are fresh, clean and inspiring.

The latest copy of wallpaper magazine caught my eye with its unique cover designs. Guest edited by Karl Lagerfield and Philippe Starck the October magazine has two versions of the same issue, Lagerfield’s cover deisgn features the fashion designer’s muse, model Baptise Giabiconi, dressed in Dior Homme, readers can then peel off this image to reveal another showing the model without any clothes on. Starck’s issue has three layers of transparent tracing paper, each with an image representing a different stage of evolution. Absolut Vodka has also produced a double layered ad for the outside back cover. Both covers are ambitious and well deigned and its obvious that they have taken to the challenge and stepped outside their comfort zones and is a great achievement of creative and technical skills.

Friday, 11 September 2009

The shard of glass, the future iconic skyscraper of London will stand as Europe’s tallest building measuring at 306 meters. Designed by Italian architect Renzo Piano for London bridge station, in an area where new constructions decorate the skyline, the building will be shaped like a shard of glass pointing towards the sky its said to be inspired by London’s timeless skyline, the huge wedge will appear to blend into the skyline changing colour and reflecting the changing light at different times of day and season. The vision behind it was created in seconds from a doodle on the back of a restaurant napkin conceiving a landmark in London’s architectural history. The building although unique in design will have practical uses, it will integrate offices, restaurants, housing, a luxury hotel and spa with public spaces at high levels ensuring a functional and accessible icon for London. At present its hoped that it will be completed by 2012, I look forward to seeing it.

I was in the gift shop at London design museum and I came across a scanimation picture book called gallop, I have never seen anything like it before as you turn the page the art moves before your eyes it is impossible not to keep flipping through the pages as the different animals come to life. Created by Rufus Butler Seder an inventor and filmmaker, scanimation is a state of the art six phase animation process that combines the “persistence of vision” principle with a striped acetate overlay to give the illusion of movement. Although the book is designed for young children I couldn’t help but pick up a copy for myself.

After hearing a lot of reviews on the exhibition super contemporary at the design museum I went into London to see what it was like. The exhibition takes a look at the great creative minds that have come out of London, a city that celebrates design and diversity like no other. The exhibitions backdrop chronologically highlights the past 50 years through events, people and news that have shapes our perception of design and have had an impact on our lives. The backbone for the exhibition are 15 commissions from the brightest designers whose brief was to give something back to the city, the outstanding diversity of approaches reflects the key characteristics of design in London. Overall super contemporary is well worth a visit its well set out, enjoyable and informative. It really does highlight some of London’s greatest design talents and leaves you with a sense of excitement about how London will progress in its creativity and how we as the futures designers can find our place and be a part of it.

Monday, 7 September 2009

Dare and Flashlabs games have created an iPhone application based on the hugely successful waterslide advert by Barclaycard with three million downloads the game has now become number one free iPhone application in 57 countries. The 'waterslide extreme' game enables users to navigate a person down a giant waterslide by tilting their iPhone. Users can choose from male or female characters, which navigate increasingly difficult slides whilst collecting points and avoiding dangerous obstacles. When I first came across the game my initial thought where that it would be a bit budget as its free to download, but its really well designed and a great extension to carry on the hype of the waterslide advert and finally a great new medium to advertise by well done Barclays for exploring it.

Thursday, 3 September 2009

The government based campaign to tackle the social worker sector identity crisis stars Goldie, Gavin and Stacy’s Joanna Page, Nicholas Hoult and ex eastenders actress Michelle Ryan. Its said the ad was released in a bid to address negative press surrounding the Baby Peter case, the hard hitting campaign aims to show how social workers help give people a voice. There will be a second part of the campaign later this year that will focus on recruiting people to the social work sector, the advert also has it own website www.helpgivethemavoice.com where you can see comments from the actors and actresses along with full length clips of the 'giving their voice'. Overall the ad is thought provoking and intense, hopefully it will create a stir and encourage people to become social workers.

Becks who have always been renowned for their bottle art have released a new set of limited addition music inspired designs which will feature on bottles starting this month, the labels are inspired by musicians Ladyhawke and Hard-Fi. The musicians were commissioned under the Becks ‘Music inspired art’ scheme and their work will appear on 16 million bottles. The bottles look great so keep your eye out for the individual bottle designs.

Wednesday, 2 September 2009

Yesterday orange launched a 5million pound ad campaign for monkey mobile service, The advert takes the form of a weather forecast, but instead of reporting the weather conditions, the reports focus on the genres of music that are popular in various regions of the country, Orange will then shoot new edits of the ads every two weeks using orange ‘monkey’ data to reflect the music preferences of orange ‘monkey’ users.

I saw the ad on TV today for the first time and couldn’t help think that orange have really let themselves down, in my opinion the ad is truly awful and doesn’t reflect their brand whatsoever, it comes across as immature and naff, and I cant help feeling let down by Fallon who created the ad for orange.

I was on design weekly website and came across an article on graduate internships and thought it was worth mentioning as its not long until we all graduate. Creative and cultural skills have proposed that a code of practice on graduate placements in the creative industries be introduced in a bid to end unpaid internships.

C&CS believe that its up to the employers to stamp out the practice of unpaid internships which are a huge factor in making creative industries hard to break into. What they propose is a code of practice for employers which could cover issues such as providing internships for a certain amount of time and paying graduates as much a possible. I am glad to see that there is someone now fighting the corner of graduates and I hope progress will be made to putting a stop to unpaid internships.

Tuesday, 1 September 2009

Drinkaware have just launched a new campaign to combat the ever increasing binge drinking culture of 18-24 year olds. The campaign tackles drinking from a different angle to that of the campaigns we are used to, which usually put emphasis on the effects of drinking and what it will do to your body. Instead of telling people not to drink the campaign instead offers practical advice for nights out such as eating food before going out and planning how to get home. The advice will be placed on 13 million products including bottles and cans as well as campaign posters. The campaign is set to run for 5 years and has been backed by 45 companies, ‘its hoped that the program will help people to re-evaluate their drinking habits and the social acceptability of drunkenness’. Its great to see a campaign that breaks away from the more traditional ways of curbing drinking habits by offering advice, I think the campaign will be successful as it is trying to relate with its target age group rather than trying to scare them of drinking altogether.

The serpentine gallery pavilion 2009 that’s set upon the gallery’s lawn has been designed by Kezuyo Sejima and Ryue Nishizawa of leading architecture practice SANAA. Sejima and Nishizawa have created the stunning pavilion to resemble a reflective cloud or a floating pool of water on top of a series of delicate columns. The structure varies in height sweeping up and down in elegant curves almost reaching the ground at some places, It raps itself around the surrounding trees and due to its reflective material it blends in perfectly with the natural surroundings. Overall it’s a spectacular piece of architecture and a wonder to see. This year pavilion is the ninth commission in the gallery’s annual series, the worlds first and most ambitious architectural programmes and a great chance for architects to debut their work it also brings the best of contemporary architecture to London for everyone to enjoy.

As this is now my second blog on coca-cola you may have guessed I am a bit of a fan of the product, and with the release of its new ‘simplified’ packaging I couldn’t help mentioning it. For years coca-cola has added things to and changed its packaging sometimes even over-complicating the brand. But recently coca cola has stripped all the unnecessary extras on its packaging back to its iconic essentials, by getting g rid of all the visual clutter coca-cola’s clever branding has transformed coca-cola back to the product that we know and trust. A huge amount of honesty goes to a brand that strips itself back to its original essence, with the red, the ribbon and the iconic coca cola logo alongside the coke script ‘classic’ in a simple lower case sans serif font the re design of coca cola does just radiate a sign of true confidence in their product design, regaining cokes modern classic edge.

I recently went to see Banksy’s latest exhibition in Bristol to see what all the hype was about. The exhibition was completely refreshing and different to any other I have been to before. Banksy had installed over 100 of his own artworks alongside some of the museums more traditional artefacts. The work was humorous inventive and surprising at times, he is by far the master of surprising juxtapositions and pushing the boundaries of what is deemed acceptable.

The lower floor of the museum housed solely Banksy’s work with around 70 new pieces, elsewhere Banksy manages to infiltrate the classics area with his unique style. Throughout the show Banksy has remained true to his roots as a street artist, he says mounted the show in Bristol to salute the city that supported his early street are career. Overall the exhibition was inspirational and provocative his work is completely unique and cheeky and in a league of its own.